My Trails into the Past

Last week, I wrote about Ernie Nilsen and his occupation about being a carpenter and patternmaker. This week is a story of a vacation to Yosemite in California. Ernie Nilsen and his wife, Mary, had no children. Because of this, they spent time with their nieces and nephews. In 1940, they took his brother, Arthur, Arthur’s wife, Lena, and Arthur’s daughters, Thelma and Bernice, on a fishing and camping trip. I have a collection of photos from this trip and on the back of two of the photos, Thelma wrote about the trip. "These were taken on a camping trip in 1940 with Aunt Mary and Uncle Ernie, Dad, Lena & Bernice. We started at Huntington Lake, but the lake was too windy for good fishing. They hiked up high in the mountains and got some golden trout." Later, they went to Bass Lake but stayed only one night. "The outhouses were so disgusting, I think Lena and Aunt Mary put their foot down, so we moved up to Yosemite for a week. Uncle Ernie took many pictures....

I have completed one hundred seventy-three (173) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. We returned home on Tuesday after 28 days on the road (railroad). Genealogy Blog Writing : Ernie Was a Cabinet Building and Pattern Maker For 52 Ancestors and the theme of “slow” I wrote about my husband’s granduncle who was both a carpenter and patternmaker. This post was highlighted by Amy Johnson Crow in her email to announce this week's theme. SNGF: Top 10 Genealogy-Related Books That Helped You I made a nice list of books from my library that I have used over the past thirty years. Some books I have not looked at in years, but am glad I had them in the past when I needed them. Genealogy Aboard the Southwest Chief from Chicago to Los Angeles, I worked on my KDP about the Gleeson family. I am up to twenty pages and am not in the third generation yet. I have lots of red notes for research to do or something to look up. It was easy to work because there was no cell service or inte...

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: It's Saturday Night again - time for some more Genealogy Fun!! Our assignment from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings is to: 1)  What are the Top 10 genealogy-related books that helped you the most? Here's mine: Wow, this one will be hard to do.  In my Library Thing book list, I have ninety-six books tagged as “Genealogy.” The ten that helped me the best? Here is my list in reverse alphabetical order (it was how I looked through my Library Thing list): The Source : A Guidebook of American Genealogy, edited by A. Eakle. This was one of the first books I read and did so cover to cover. I think I had been researching my family for about a year when I was given this book. Many parts were over my head but it gave me a sense of the resources I should be seeking in my research and instructions on how to use them. Your Swedish Roots: A Step by Step Handbook by Per Clemensson. When I first started researching my husband’s Swedish ancestors, ...

Ernest Ferdinand Nilsen, the fourth son of Nils Malkom Nilsen and Hulda Charlotte Anderson-Carlson, was born 10 April 1900 in Cromwell, Middlesex County, Connecticut. [1] Since his father was a minister for the Swedish Covenant church, he lived in several places before finally settling in Southern California with his parents. Ernest, who was my husband’s maternal great-uncle, served in the Navy during World War I, stationed at San Pedro and aboard the USS Sequoia . [2] After serving in the war, he returned to school and finished high school. [3] He worked as a carpenter making custom cabinets for homes. [4] He served in the Navy again during WWII., working as a patternmaker. He enlisted at Los Angeles and was discharged at Naval Air Station, Quonset Point, Rhode Island. Other places he served was San Pedro, California, Bremerton, Washington, and Boston. [5] After the war, he continued working as a patternmaker, finishing his career with the Johnston Pump Co in Glendora, Califo...

I have completed one hundred seventy-two (172) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. We’re still on vacation and while in New York City, I have been wearing a mask on the subway, which is the most crowded place we’ve been. Genealogy Blog Writing : Cyril Hork Was a Pitcher Throwing Fastballs I wrote about my grandfather playing baseball in Hamilton, Montana as a young man. There were many newspaper accounts of the games. SNGF: What Do You Wish You Had Done I wrote about some of the things I wished I had done in my life, yet I have no regrets. Genealogy We are still on vacation this past week, so I attended no meetings. I watched two webinars: Finding Your One Among Millions, Methods & Tips for Urban Research by Amy Garner Giroux (BCG-Legacy) and What’s the Evidence? How to Probe Documents Beyond the Obvious by Elizabeth Shown Mills (Legacy Best of ESM). I also worked on my KDP for the Gleeson family while on board our train from Philadelphia to Chicago and from Chicag...

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: It's Saturday Night again - time for some more Genealogy Fun!! Our assignment from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings is to: 1)  What do you wish you had done in your life?  Here's mine: I have done most of the things I had wanted to do. There are a few things that I had wished to do but never did: I wish I had played on a professional baseball team. For one, females have yet to be on a professional team, and I can’t really play that well. I have settled on following my San Francisco Giants and living vicariously through them. Some favorite players over the years have been Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Chris Speier, Buster Posey, and a few from other teams such as Joe Morgan and Johnny Bench. I wish I had joined the military, but when I was young, I was really too scared (especially of boot camp). I have settled on enjoying fictional books set in military settings. A favorite author was W.E.B. Griffin’s books about Army, Marine Corps,...

My grandfather, William Cyril Hork, played baseball in Hamilton, Montana, as a young man, probably following the footsteps of his older brothers, Albert, Frank, and Tony, who also played. I found several accounts of his games in the Missoulian, Anaconda Standard , and Ravalli Republic newspapers. The first article covered a Boy Scout team and Cyril was one of the pitchers. [1] In the next article, Cyril is pitching for the high school team, beating the high school in Victor 8 to 3. “Besides twirling a splendid game, Hork rapped out two clean hits. In the ninth frame, with three on and none out, the youngster tightened up and retired the side.” [2] For the Memorial Day celebration, Cyril was the pitcher for the Knights of Birmingham (Masons) against the Valley Mercantile Company. [3] A follow-up article showed they won 3 to 1. Cyril got a double, stole a base, and struck out nine players. The whole article gave play-by-play results, but shown here is the box score. [4] He continued...